__Underlying Theory of Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy__
Largely dispensing with psychological constructs and theories about personality, the Existential approach characterizes human beings as creatures of continual change and transformation, living essentially finite lives in a context of personal strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and limitations created by their environment. With attention given to this entire context of the client's life, the Existential approach is all about exploring meaning and value and learning to live authentically -- that is, in accordance with one's own ideals, priorities and values. Authentic living means being true to oneself and honest about one's own possibilities and limitations, continually creating one's own identity even in the face of deep uncertainty about everything in the future except for the eventual arrival of our own death. Authentic living means living deliberately, rather than by default.
Psychological health, from an existential perspective, is characterized by an ability to navigate the complexities of one's own life, the world, and one's relationships with the world. Disturbance, on the other hand, is taken as the outcome of avoiding life's truths and of working under the shadow of other people's expectations and values. Self deception about these factors provides a powerful psychological defense mechanism. Existential counselling maintains that disturbance is an inevitable experience for virtually everyone; the question is not so much how to avoid it as it is how to face it with openness and a willingness to engage with life rather than a tendency to retreat, withdraw or refrain from responsibility.
__Therapeutic Approach of Existential Counselling__
The role of the existential therapist is really to facilitate the client's own encounter with themselves, to work alongside them in the job of exploring and understanding better the client's values, assumptions and ideals. The therapist is concerned to engage seriously with what matters most to the client, to avoid imposing their own judgements, and to help the client to elucidate and elaborate on their own perspective, with an ultimate view to the client's being able to live life well and in their own way.
Great emphasis is placed on the therapist's responsibility to be aware of -- and to question -- their own biases and prejudices. The therapist must be self aware and able to set aside as much as possible their pre-conceptions and to encounter the client's world with an open mind. The therapist brings a sort of deliberate naivete to the therapeutic relationship, with a goal of understanding the client's meaning rather than their own and recognizing the client's assumptions and underlying life themes with a clarity which the client may not yet be able to muster. The therapist will be sensitive to and help the client explore their weaknesses, limitations and responsibilities as well as their strengths, opportunities and freedoms. Above all, they will value the meaning which the client creates in their own emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and personal history.
In the course of exploring the client's world, the therapist may appeal to a 4-part framework encompassing the client's existence in the physical dimension of the natural world, the body, health and illness; the social dimension of public relationships; the psychological or personal dimension, where we experience our relationship with ourselves as well as intimacy with others; and the spiritual dimension of ideals, philosophy and ultimate meaning. Crucially, however, this framework of four dimensions is not imposed on the client by the therapist; it simply informs the therapist's understanding of the client's world so that, for instance, if a client never mentioned intimate relationships, the therapist would become aware of a deficiency in their understanding of the client's personal dimension.
The Existential approach seeks clarity and meaning in all these dimensions and thus, in a sense, it begins with a significantly broader view of human existence than those approaches which focus on specific psychological mechanisms or which focus on the self as a meaningful entity, separable from its relations and interactions with the surrounding world.jordan shoes for sale outlet soccer